Is There Something Better Than Partnership?

The relationship between Australian nonprofit community service providers and government has been the subject of a considerable deal of scholarly and practitioner analysis, mostly directed at analysing its changing nature, deficiencies and suggestions for improvement. Socio-legal analysis of the relationship in Australia is a very modest part of this literature (Carney, Ramia & Yeatman 2001; Finn & Smith 1992; McGregor-Lowndes & Turnour 2003; Meltz 1997). It is quite scant compared to analysis of government-business relations and in particular Public Private Partnerships (PPP) (for example, Carroll& Steane 2000; Duncan 2005; Hodge & Greve 2005).